Gordon R. Dickson. Beginnings (1988)

     Gordon R. Dickson. Beginnings (1988) Collection of stories from the 40s on. Many show their age, both in content (the most interesting is the limited understanding of computers, but the industry itself had no inkling of what the PC would lead to) and in style. But Soldier, Ask Not, the Dorsai story that Dickson later expanded into a novel, stands up well: it was a true departure, and Dickson’s skill at placing character in an invented culture makes the story work. The other Dickson theme, the extraordinariness of human beings, sometimes descends into something close to species jingoism, but it does supply the two other stories that will surely last; Danger, Human! and 3 Part Puzzle. In his introduction Dickson stresses that he was writing for a living, and didn’t think of his stories as other than something saleable. Most of the pieces in this collection have all the defects and strengths of such writing: neatly twisted plots, more or less obvious humour, limited characterisation (though Dickson has the knack of sketching a character in a few words) focus on novelty of concept or setting, and brevity. They were written to entertain and in that aim they all succeed. ** to **** (2004)

Heywood Gould. One Dead Debutante (1975)

     Heywood Gould. One Dead Debutante (1975) The tough guy hero-narrator (Josh Krales) is a journalist. A hit that kills five people (including the title character) leads him on a twisting and turning chase that ends, more or less, in a tobacco field in Carolina. Political and other kinds of corruption abound. The story telling is generally fast paced, but the blurbs promise more than Gould delivers. For one thing, it’s not nearly as funny as the review snippets claim. *½ (2004)

Simon Brett. Death on the Downs (2001)

     Simon Brett. Death on the Downs (2001) “A Fethering Mystery.” Brett has invented a pair of middle aged women sleuths living on the Sussex coast and entirely too curious for their own good. The back story is that both are divorced, and both have love troubles, but Brett keeps these firmly in the background. Pity; if he wants readers to buy more books, he should make the characters more interesting. Sheltering from the rain in an old barn, Carole Seddon finds some human bones neatly packaged in blue plastic fertiliser bags. Discovering their identity and the reason for the odd hiding place takes up some 330-odd pages of pleasantly written and imagined story. The resolution resolves an ancient grudge going back to childhood cruelty and causing a third murder. Brett has written witty and sometimes macabre short stories, as well as scripts for the Holmes series, and so on, so he knows his metier, and does a craftsmanlike job. This book is number two in a projected series; I’ll look for the other numbers, but won’t cry if I don’t find them **½ (2004)

Marion Elliot. Paper Making (1994)

     Marion Elliot. Paper Making (1994) A brief history of paper making, emphasising the handicraft aspects of the technology, introduces this well put together and instructive book. Artistically not very inspired, but technically very sound. Makes you want to build a mould and deckle, and start making paper. *** (2004)

Russell Myers. Sneaky Volcanoes (1982)

     Russell Myers. Sneaky Volcanoes (1982) Collection of Broomhilda cartoons. For addicts only. Broomhilda was a one-note strip, rarely rising above the obvious joke, and even more rarely showing the edge that one would expect from a 1000-year-old green witch. * (2004)

Rosamund Pilcher. The Blue Bedroom (1985)

     Rosamund Pilcher. The Blue Bedroom (1985) Reissue of short story collection to take advantage of the success of The Shellseekers. Pilcher wrote for Woman’s Weekly and it shows: the stories are inoffensive, cliché-ridden, pay too much attention to clothes, use a resolutely fixed viewpoint, have neatly turned plots, and deal exclusively with relationships. But while most WW fiction sticks to the romantic mode, these have more variety. Pilcher may use the WW style and form but she deals with real dilemmas, and gently leads the reader through everything from children recognising the finality of death to a housewife managing to impress unexpected guests (her husband’s boss and his wife). She’s one of those writers who have a clear eye and an unsentimental understanding of the human heart, and so her stories rise above the limitations of style and form. But I found myself reading the next story hoping it would be better than the last one; like eating potato chips. **½ (2004)

James Arnold. All Made by Hand (1970)

     James Arnold. All Made by Hand (1970) A pleasant survey of crafts still practised in some parts of Britain when Arnold wrote the book. Decorated with his drawings, which are well done, but too crowded to be read easily. His explanations are sometimes perfunctory, the proofreading is bad, and Arnold suffers from romantic nostalgia for handicrafts, so that what could have been a very good book is merely an adequate one. * (2004)

Ellis Peters. Never Pick up Hitchhikers (1976)

     Ellis Peters. Never Pick up Hitchhikers (1976) A very naive young man on the lam from his overbearing mother finds himself entangled in a plot that begins with a fire that is intended to create the impression that a bank robber has died. A girl he meets by chance has all the right instincts, which account for his escape from a gruesome grilling.

Lovely twists and turns of plot, competently managed multiple viewpoints, well-sketched characters, sly and not so sly comedy at the expense of crooks and young lovers, and a satisfying happy ending in which the mouse turns out to be a lion. The usual Peters romance is better integrated than in some of the Cadfael books, but her lovers here are just the same mix of fecklessness, shrewdness, and sweet purity of heart as in those stories. This is a pre-Cadfael story, but all the Peters hallmarks are evident. The humour has an edge that she later too often blunted. A very pleasant entertainment. *** (2004)

Edgar Wallace. Flat 2 (1927)

     Edgar Wallace. Flat 2 (1927) Wallace enjoyed a great vogue in his time, and well into the 60s amd 70s of the last century. This is n edited version of the original. No doubt the most offensive excrescences of Wallace’s racism etc were excised. What’s left is a swift-moving but silly thriller. The plot has huge holes in it; the story deals with the just elimination of a villain, who deserves everything he gets. A crime story from the period when villains were black-hearted scoundrels, the heroes were noble defenders of justice and pure womanhood, a gentleman’s word could not be doubted, and other such silliness. Very cliched writing, too. Not worth reading again, nor will I read any other of Wallace’s books. (2004)

Sue Grafton. A is for Alibi (1982)

     Sue Grafton. A is for Alibi (1982) Kinsey Millhome is an ex-cop PI. She does mostly surveillance work for insurance companies and such. This time, she’s engaged by a paroled convicted murderer to find out who really killed her husband. Kinsey does so, getting emotionally entangled with the killer in the process. Neat, straightforward writing, adequate characterisation, good narrative pace, reasonable plotting and puzzling, and more attention than usual to clothes and interior decoration. As a first effort, it’s very good. Grafton has since worked her way through most of the alphabet. I’ll look for them in the usual venues. **½ (2004)
Update 2013: I've read almost all Grafton's books. Good stuff, highly recommended.

Garden Railways, 20th Anniversary Issue (Dec.2003)

     Garden Railways, 20th Anniversary Issue (Dec.2003) I haven’t seen this rag for years. Kathryn and Roy gave it me for Christmas, and a most welcome gift it was. I read it three times: once-over just to see what was in it, then every article, then all the ads. It has a nice range of topics, including some articles heavy on the gardening and others purely about scratch-building. A bound-in plan set for a work caboose is useable for other scales, of course, and I shall build it for On30. I won’t subscribe to this mag, though, but I will look for it on the stands, in case an issue has something I want to keep. *** (2004)

P D James The Murder Room (2003)

     P D James The Murder Room (2003) Dalgleish visits the Dupayne Museum’s Murder Room with a friend, who regales him with his hypothesis that murder mirrors it social setting. A couple of weeks later a murder brings him back. The  Museum’s future was in doubt because the murder victim refused to sign the renewal papers for the lease.  The puzzle is relatively simple, but James hides the clues in plain sight, so that careful reading is required if you want to solve it before the solution is revealed. He was (as one suspect from the beginning) murdered to ensure the Museum would continue operating.
     I don’t read for puzzle-solving (much), but for the characters and social setting, which James as always handles superbly. She creates a believable version of late 20th Century Britain because she creates characters that inhabit that world. They are constrained by the social structure, the economics, and their own ambitions. No one is perfectly happy, but most achieve at least contentment. Dalgleish’s love life frames the story; it has a happy ending. ***

Carl Sagan Broca’s Brain (1979)

     Carl Sagan Broca’s Brain (1979) Collection of essays. Sagan was in his time one of the great popularisers of science, especially of cosmology. His TV series Cosmos is still worth watching, even though, like this book, some of its data and speculations are outdated. Sagan treats this in one the essays, in which he muses about how much earth-bound observation was able to discover or how well  hypotheses were grounded. Subsequent space-based (almost entirely robotic) data decided between the hypotheses, or confirmed the observations, for example the surface temperature of Venus. A salutary reminder that our understanding of the universe is always limited by our factual knowledge and shaped by our prejudices, desires, and passions, and whatever worldview we have formed from necessarily limited data. Thus, educated people for a long time refused to believe that rocks could fall from the sky. But science as a method in the long run corrects errors and adds to our knowledge. In this, it differs from pseudoscience, which changes only as new science offers new opportunities for waffle and bafflegab: see the recent co-option of the jargon of quantum theory to justify claims of planes of existence, astral projection, and similar nonsense.
     Science also, and I think more importantly, helps us understand our place in the cosmos. There’s a paradox here: we are insignificant creatures confined to an insignificant planet in an insignificant patch of our galaxy, one among billions. But we are able nevertheless to grasp that insignificance, and that in itself is significant.
     Sagan also takes on a a couple of cranks, especially Velikovsky. He shows that Velikovsky’s speculations are physically impossible. That Velikovsky (and von Däniken, etc) enjoyed such a vogue in their time demonstrates how badly and incompletely science is taught. High school science is enough to refute their claims. It also shows that we underestimate the intelligence, skills, and technology of our ancestors. This is probably an effect of the caveman stereotype which is still disseminated in poorly understood versions of evolutionary theories. Our ancestors were very clever people: that so many modern humans cannot imagine how they did what they did suggests if anything that intelligence and creativity have declined in the last few millennia.
     Sagan writes in a clear style, rarely assuming his readers have more than a high school grasp of science and mathematics. Good book. ** to ***